Weaning your baby

The standard guidelines for weaning change every few years. The current advice is to start after your baby is 6 months old as his digestive system is more mature at this age. If you wish to start earlier, get advice from your pediatrician.

After 6 months old your baby no longer gets his daily nutritional needs from milk, and after 10 months if baby has not learned to chew or eat food with lumps, he will have a harder time later on.

Tips;

• Before you start, get a good highchair that, above all, is easy to clean! You’ll be doing a lot of it!
• Work out what you’re doing with the highchair tray. Is it meat, milk or treif? What will you do on Pesach? Some companies allow you to buy extra trays. Foil covering your tray is not an option. A 6 month old will have it off in a second!
• Given that most things you will give your baby will be cold or lukewarm, you can get away with one tray.
• Bibs. Lots of them. ‘Nuff said.
• Most people start with baby rice mixed with the usual milk your baby drinks. After a few days, you can add vegetable puree’s and fruit puree’s to your baby’s diet.
• It is normal for your baby to make a face when first offered food. Don’t stop trying!
• When your baby is taking 10 spoons or more of one meal a day, offer another meal.
• Babies have small stomachs. Little and often is the rule!
• You can never have too many hand blenders. Well, after six it gets a bit ridiculous (milk, meat and pareve for the year and Pesach)!
• Baby still gets most of his nutrients from milk until he is a year. Offer milk first, wait an hour, then offer food. If he doesn’t want, try again later. Don’t assume he doesn’t like it. If he refuses the same food again, try it again in a few days. He’ll have forgotten.
• Many mothers are trying the 'new' method of weaning - baby-led weaning. The principle is that since the baby starts later they are capable of holding food by themselves and learn to feed themselves and control what they eat early on. Examples are steamed sweet potato chips and crustless sandwiches. For more info see here.